Plant Guide

Bent trillium

Trillium flexipes

This trillium produces large white flowers above the foliage in mid-spring, but the flowers are later hidden as the flower stalks nod. The flowers occasionally are maroon, but they retain the white ovaries. The plant is quite variable, and can grow up to 2 feet tall.

Noteworthy Characteristics: Most trilliums are native to woodlands and scrub of North America. They make an elegant understory planting when grown in groups in a woodland or shady, naturalized area. Since trilliums go dormant in summer, plant them with other shade-loving perennials to share their place until they reappear the following spring.

Care: Provide rich, moist but well-drained soil with a neutral to slightly acidic pH and plant in part to full shade. Add an annual mulch of rich organic matter.

Propagation: Trilliums propagate readily by division when plants are dormant in late summer or early fall.